Only one candidate mentions margins tax at Washoe Democratic convention

Lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores speaks to the delegates Saturday morning at the Washoe County Democratic Convention in the Wooster High cafeteria. She did not mention The Education Initiative/margins tax in her short speech, just like most of the candidates who spoke. (Ray Hagar photo)

One by one, Democratic candidates for elected office — from lieutenant governor, state senator and all the way to family court judges — were given a minute to speak to the delegates at the Washoe County Democratic Convention Saturday.

Yet only one – Reno mayor candidate Eric Holland – mentioned The Education Initiative, or as Republicans like to call it – the margins tax.

It was a glaring omission for some of the delegates. They noted the lack of attention to the controversial measure among Washoe Democratic candidates came one day after the Nevada State AFL-CIO voted to oppose the margins tax.

“I just hope the Democrats are not going to get bamboozled by the AFL-CIO resolution,” said former state Sen. Shelia Leslie, D-Reno. “People need to understand The Education Initiative is on the ballot because of the people. It’s not about big business, the Legislature or the unions. All of those entities agree we need more money for education but they have killed every single tax (bill) that comes to the Legislature to increase funding for education.”

Some of the candidates who did not mention TEI/margins tax in their short speeches in the Wooster High cafeteria said it was neither the time nor place to push the cause.

“It shows people are doing their job of promoting their own campaign, their own candidacy above all else, which is what we should be doing,” said state Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks. “It (margins tax) may also be addressed at the state (Democratic) party convention, which is probably a more appropriate place.”

The Education Initiative will be shown as Question 3 in Nevada’s November general-election ballot. If it is approved by a majority of voters, TEI would impose a 2-percent tax on a business’ margins after allowable deductions are taken. Only businesses that gross $1 million annually or more will be subject to the tax.

Its sponsor, the Nevada State Education Association, estimates the tax could bring in as much as $850 million annually. Yet it has faced strong opposition from business owners, Republicans such as Gov. Brian Sandoval and The Chamber of Reno, Sparks and Northern Nevada.

Holland, the art teacher at Rain Shadow Charter High School, said he spoke out in favor of the margins tax because “it is time we start taking some responsibility for our state and not hope for other things to come in and save us – like the casino industry or bringing in some high-tech industry.”

Lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores, a current assemblywoman from North Las Vegas, was the first to speak at the convention. While she did not mention TEI/margins tax in her comments before delegates, she noted afterward that she has said in the past she is not supporting it and has not changed her mind.

Both Flores and state Treasurer Kate Marshall, who is running for secretary of state, quickly left the building after speaking to delegates to fly to Las Vegas for the Clark County Democratic Convention.

“My statement is not changing,” Flores said about TEI/margins tax. “I’ve been pretty clear about where I am on that. People certainly continue asking but I’ve been very clear where I am.”

One delegate who was a proponent of TEI/margins tax was not swayed by the candidates’ lack of support.

“They (candidates) have to do what they have to do,” said delegate Irene Brouhard. “But Democrats who vote are going to vote for that.

“Every Democrat you talk to wants this,” Brouhard said of TEI/margins tax. “They want something done with the schools and this is our best hope to get any funding. We can’t depend on anything else as long as we don’t have a super majority in the Legislature. But Democrats, as a base, are going to go for this.”

Any tax hike in the Nevada Legislature needs a two-thirds majority in both houses for approval, according to Nevada law. Legislators also need a two-third majority to override a possible tax-hike veto by the governor.

Larry Wilson, a retired insurance representative for the United Auto Workers, said the AFL-CIO’s resolution could be changed in support of TEI/margins tax at its constitutional convention in August in Reno.

“It (TEI/margins tax) wasn’t necessarily defeated,” Wilson said about the AFL-CIO resolution. “The resolution states that the issue will be revisited in August. And the reason for that is to allow us to educate.”

“I have been getting slammed, ‘Why is the AFL-CIO opposed to education, siding with the Walmarts and Tray Abneys?” Wilson said, referring to the government affairs director at The Chamber of Reno, Sparks and Northern Nevada. “That is not the situation. The situation is a lack of information as to how it is going to affect our (AFL-CIO) members and their livelihoods.”

TEI activist Doug Smithson said the TEI proponents have yet to mound their full-scale campaign.

When asked about why only one candidate mentioned TEI, Smithson said, “Maybe I’m egotistical enough to believe it is because I have not yet started (campaigning) yet.

“I am going to be campaigning for TEI,” Smithson said. “I have one day a week where I volunteer at an elementary school and I’m tired of seeing fifth and sixth grade classes filled with 30 kids. It’s hard enough to control them let alone teach them something.”

Bob Fulkerson, the executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and a TEI proponent, said the lack of talk from candidates about the issue was a good sign.

“I was really happy about the lack of opposition,” Fulkerson said. “Who here bad-mouthed TEI? Not one person. You know why? Because they know they are speaking to a crowd that would be hostile to that.”

Fulkerson also addressed the AFL-CIO resolution against TEI/margins tax.

I’m I disappointed about the AFL-CIO? Yeah, but we have hit roadblocks before and have gotten around them,” Fulkerson said. “No, I feel pretty good. You would think that if it (TEI) were so bad and had all of this opposition, people would have been up there bad-mouthing it. Nobody has.

“There were rumors of a potential floor fight over it and that is not going to happen so I think we are in an OK state,” Fulkerson said.

A little sad: only thing Ray Hagar can say about the #WashoeDems convention is what we _didn’t_ talk about.

But he’s right. (Keeping us honest.) The Education Initiative is totally important. I’m all for it--mentioned it obliquely.

About this blog

Ray Hagar is the political reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal and a fifth-generation Nevadan. Hagar is also a co-host for the Nevada Newsmakers statewide television program. He is the co-author of "Johnson-Jeffries: Dateline Reno," a book about the 1910 "Fight of the Century" in Reno that pitted black world champion Jack Johnson against the "Great White Hope," Jim Jeffries